A Decade and a Half
by CaptainCaravan
Summary: Ashley watched the silhouette of her parents come crashing to the ground and the blood splatter around the walls of the living room. She stared at the space where her parents were once stood. "Wake up…" She mimed, "Just wake up…" RE-WRITING. RE-UPLOAD IN PROGRESS.
1. The Properties of a Bullet

_So this is my CSI fan fic! *is proud* Hope you like ittttt! :DD_

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><p><span><strong>Chapter 1: The Properties of a Bullet<strong>

The night was humid and unusually quiet for Las Vegas. The hypnotising sound of cicadas was the only thing filling the atmosphere.

It was bordering on midnight but Ashley couldn't sleep. She lay staring at the plaster-white ceiling in her bedroom, making shapes out of the moulds with her eyes. She had a feeling that tonight was going to be different somehow. A harsh, disappointing feeling deep in her gut.

The sound of the television, that her parents were gawping at, blurted out and the flickering light flooded through the small gap between the door and it's frame.

A cold, hard knock echoed around the house. It was then followed by a harsh silence that seeped into every crack and corner. It sent Ashley's world into a nightmare.

Slowly, her parents made there was towards the door, muttering something about how late it was.

"Don't answer the door!" Ashley whispered clutching onto the cool sheets that were wrapped around her ankles. Panic shot through her system as she sat up and stared at the T.V light.

The door opened and the humid smell from outside filled Ashley's senses. She sat there, wide-eyed, clutching tighter and tighter, heart pounding. This was the only thing she could hear.

Then gunshot.

The hollow, unfair sound echoed around the rooms, bouncing from wall to wall, embedding itself in Ashley's memories.

She watched the silhouette of her parents come crashing to the ground and the blood splatter around the walls of the living room.

She stared at the space where her parents were once stood.

"Wake up…" She mimed, "Just wake up…"

Her head fell limply onto her arms and a single tear fell onto her bed sheets. 'Wake up' were the only words going through her thoughts. Reflecting from the walls of her mind and bouncing around none stop.

Suddenly, reality struck. Someone else was in the house and they were looking for someone. Ashley.

Her eyes were heavy and sore. Her mind was yelling and screaming, telling her to hide. And her heart was racing. There wasn't much time. The best place to hide was the attic as it was, luckily, directly above her bed and the fastest place to get to.

Ashley carefully climbed onto her bed and gently lifted the small wooden panel that covered the attic entrance. Constantly looking at her bedroom door, she pulled down the stepladder that was secured to the attic floor. It was cold and had a thin layer of condensation over it.

Her heart was racing faster and faster, every second could be her last.

She made her way up; it was cold and her toes curled up every time they were placed on a step. The air was cool and dry. The dust was nose tickling and she fought back a sneeze. Everything was gently replaced and for once that evening, Ashley felt safe.

xxx

The night passed and to Ashley's surprise she hadn't been killed.

Something was irritating her sleep. A bright was shone into her eye making it come back into focus. A voice called her name.

"Ashley?" It came softly. It was a woman's voice.

Ashley's eyes were too sore to see anything and her mind was still her nightmare to take anything in.

"Ashley. You need to come with me. I'm from the Las Vegas Crime Lab, we need to take you in for questioning, okay?"

Ashley gave an automatic nod, not really knowing what the officer just said.

xxx

Eventually, Ashley was taken into questioning and shared everything she tried hard to forget. But it wasn't enough…

The killer was never found and the case was put to one side and nearly forgotten.

But there's always one who never forgets.

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><p><em>Fanxx for watchingggg i mean readinggggg! ;DDD<em>

_No really. I can actually talk. I'm not a chavvvv meeeeeeertt! No. Really I'm not._

**_On a Serious Note:_**

_Thanks for reading and please review... but don't be harsh or I'll break your ankles and throw you off a cliff!_

_Enjoy!~_


	2. Test Tubes and Paper Work

_Edits._

_Hey guys. After reading through this the other day I've realised I have to edit a few bits and bobs through some of the chapters, this being the first one._

_Enjoy the improvements :)_

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><p><span><strong>Chapter 2: Test Tubes and Paper Work<strong>

Ashley McGarratt. 29 years old and a member of the Las Vegas Police and CSI Department. 15 years ago her parents were murdered by a mysterious killer who was never found. This is her story.

The crime lab was set out in a rather confusing way. Well, first of all the walls were all made of glass, second of all they were set out in a corner after corner way and third of all Ashley was holding her scraggly bit of paper (map) upside down. Her face was puzzled and her mind overloaded. She turned a corner and ended up walking into a wall that, by surprise, made a rather hollow thud.

"Oww…" She groaned rubbing her forehead.

She looked down at the map she held rightly in her fingers.

Finally she realised that it was upside down, after a long five minutes of staring at it, and continued to flip it the right way.

"This is even more confusing!" She yelled tearing the paper up vigorously and throwing it, accidentally, in someone's face.

"Oh! I am really sorry!" Ashley spluttered rather embarrassed.

She looked up at the person she had just attacked with paper. He was a little taller than she was. Pale with sandy hair that was carefully spiked up with a thin layer of gel. He was wearing a dark green shirt and a green stripy jumper. His long legs were covered with black jeans and he was wearing a pair of swanky looking sneakers.

"It's fine," he said reassuringly. "It's not the first time I've had things thrown at me. It was a lot worse than paper before."

Ashley gave a shy giggle not really knowing what to say in reply.

"Umm… You're the new CSI? Right?" He asked trying to change the conversation topic.

"Uhh… yeah…" She smiled slightly.

"Greg Sanders," he held out his hand, "Lab Tech."

She shook it. "McGarratt… Ashley McGarratt."

She pushed her long chestnut brown hair out of her eyes. Her cheeks had gone slightly pink with embarrassment.

Ashley wasn't normally this shy. Her personality was more tomboyish and she had a very confident nature. She was normally loud and violence was always her answer even in the most pointless of places.

She wasn't really bothered about her appearance or what people thought of her. Her long hair fell effortlessly around her back and shoulders. It was slightly wavy and had small flicks and imperfections in the texture at odd points. Her eyes were a dark shade of green and they sparkled every time she mentioned anything exciting or dangerous. Her skin was ever so slightly tanned and her face had faint freckles dotted about over her cheeks. She was tall, slim and her legs took up just over half her height. Her skinny waste was pinched in at the middle and her hips were slightly wider.

She wore a skinny fit, midnight blue t-shirt that brought out the shape of her figure. She also wore dark grey combat trousers that fell loosely over her legs. They were slightly baggy and had two pockets, one on either side of her legs. There was also a black and white chequered belt hanging around her hips with a silver chain clipped onto it.

There was an awkward silence that followed and Ashley decided that best this to do was to pick up the scraps of paper from the floor. She carefully bent down and scooped up the flakes. She then stood up, not so carefully, and ended up head butting the test tube out of Greg's hand, sending it flying to the other side of the corridor and shattering on the floor. Both of them just stared at the shattered glass shards.

"Damn it…" Ashley groaned dragging her feet over to the glass.

"That was clever!" Greg said sarcastically still standing as if he was holding the test tube.

"Shut it!" Ashley laughed giving him a confident smile.

He smiled back and joined her, offering to help pick the glass up.

"God. I am not myself today…" Ashley muttered, not really sure if Greg was listening, "I'm trying to find my way around and it's so complicated and I keep getting lost and- Ouch!"

She dropped the shards and the paper scraps in panic.

"And now this!" There was a deep cut in her finger, the revenge of the glass shards, and a lot of blood was seeping through but Ashley shaking her finger vigorously doubled the amount.

"Damn it…" she repeated.

"Let's take a look," Greg grabbed her wrist unexpectedly making her stop panicking. Her face still had a shocked expression. She blushed slightly.

Greg examined her finger, and then he looked up and past her.

"Nick!" He yelled down the corridor.

"Greg. I don't have time. Catherine sent me to collect the new CSI." A voice came from behind Ashley. It was a male voice, with a slight Texan accent, and became gradually louder as the owner came closer.

"Right here!" Ashley looked at him innocently and gave an embarrassed smile.

He was slightly shorter than Greg and had short, dark hair that was naturally spiked up at the front. He had a muscular build and wore a loose fitting grey t-shirt and jeans that were faded and slightly worn out.

"Oh, hey!" he said rather flirtatiously.

"Umm… Hi…" Ashley replied in a confused tone.

"Nick Stokes," he introduced himself.

"Ashley McGarratt," she gave a quick nod. He smiled at her.

"Nick!" Greg gave him a stern look and held Ashley's hand in the air helping the swelling on her finger go down.

"What?"

"Just help by picking up these glass please," Greg sighed leading Ashley into the materials lab. Nick followed close behind holding the shards of glass in out-stretched arms.

The lab was lit slightly with a pale, blue light. There was a large table in the middle of the room; it was brightly backlit with a strong, white light. This was used for examining objects. There was also a blackboard with photos and case files pinned to it. Scattered around the edges of the room was different equipment for analysing DNA, chemicals, documents and even a microscope. The room had a cool atmosphere and there was a slight smell of chemicals and disinfectant. There was also someone else in the room. She was small, pale skinned and had fair, black hair, which was naturally wavy, and came down past her shoulders.

"Hi Sara!" Greg smiled at the other woman and continued to walk Ashley over to one of the cabinets.

"Uhh… Hi," Sara replied in a confused tone, "What did you do to your finger?"

"Glass shards…" Ashley answered giving a sarcastic smile.

Greg stuck his head into the cabinet and tossed out boxes upon boxes of slings, plasters and First Aid kits.

"This is Ashley, by the way!" His voice was muffled, "She's the new CSI!"

Sara gave a nod, "Sara Sidle." She smiled towards Ashley.

Meanwhile, Nick had just walked into the room looking rather proud. "Got rid of the glass shards now!" He joined in with the conversation and stood next to Sara.

"Ah-HA!" came Greg's voice from the cabinet. He pulled out a role of bandage tape, making everything else fall out with it. He casually stood up with a proud grin on his face. He turned to Ashley who gave him her finger and he began to bandage it up. Ashley watched with interest, she started to blush slightly.

Nick looked at Sara and raised his eyebrows. She looked back confusedly.

"Thank you," Ashley said admiring the bandage.

"No problem," Greg winkled at her and then turned back to put the tap, and everything else, away.

"You must be Ashley?" Came a surprisingly nasal sounding voice from the doorway. Ashley quickly spun around to see a tall woman standing behind her holding a stack of papers. She had very distinct cheekbones and a slightly sour face. She had the odd bit of make-up on which still made her look pretty. Her long, blond hair fell loosely over her shoulders and she had large sunglasses perched on the top of her head.

"Catherine Willows," she slurred shoving the papers into Ashley's hands only for her to drop them again.

"Oh pffff!" Ashley spluttered as they fell onto the floor. Catherine strode past her, not taking much notice, as Ashley crouched down and gathered the papers onto a messy pile. Greg helped. Nick pulled an 'oh-did-you-see-that?' face at Sara who just ignored him.

"Our victim was shot dead at her home," Catherine continued, "I need you, Nick and Sara to go down to the scene with Brass." She handed Nick a slip of paper, then she turned to Ashley, "Sara will take you to the lockers to get you looking the part of a CSI." She gave Ashley a slight smile.

The three of them headed towards the door.

"Better luck next time Greggo!" Nick chuckled; patting Greg on the shoulder, then was sharply elbowed in the back by Greg.

Ashley followed Sara closely. There were so many sights to take in and directions to remember. They eventually made it to a small, grey room lined with tall, metallic lockers each with their own nametag. There was also a long, wooden bench spread through the middle of the room.

"Well, here's the locker room!" Sara announced, guiding Ashley inside. They both admired the atmosphere for a moment.

"And, I think that this one's yours." Sara continued; pointing to the locker labelled 'Ashley McGarratt'.

Ashley admired her nametag, it was printed in bold, black letters.

"You should have been given an ID card and locker code upon entering the building and the team." Sara said as she opened her locker and beginning to rummage inside.

Ashley stuck her hand in one of her pockets and pulled out her a small card with the code AAM1982 printed on it. She quickly dialled in the code opened her locker. There wasn't much inside. But there was an LVPD CSI vest hanging from the rail. Ashley smiled, a large smile. The vest was mostly black, had three pockets and several strips of reflective tape surrounding all sides. Bold, white writing spelled out 'LVPD Crime Scene Investigators' on the back and her last name, McGarratt, was sewn on the right side opposite the Las Vegas Police emblem on the left.

Ashley slipped her arms through the holes and pulled her new uniform over her shoulders.

"This is good, this is a good time," she giggled turning to Sara.

"Nice!" Sara complimented putting on her own jacket.

Ashley's head was buzzing with excitement; she finally belonged to the team.

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><p><em>Remember, reviews make me happy! :)<br>_


	3. Analyse the Red Stuff

_Once again, more edits. But they're only slight on this chapter._

_Enjoy!~_

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><p><strong><span>Chapter 3: Analyse the Red Stuff<span>**

Ashley sat in the passenger seat of the hummer and watched the scenery flash by at speed. The sirens of the other cars could be heard as the team raced towards the scene of the crime.

Captain Jim Brass was driving. He was a small, plump man with short, black hair that was thinning on top. He was the one in charge of issuing warrants, keeping the paperwork in order and keeping the team in order.

"The crime's just a shooting," he explained as the car was thrown around a corner, "Good thing too, as this is your first case."

Ashley smiled in Brass' general direction, she was to busy thinking about the shooting of her own parents to take much notice of the conversation. She thought about how she felt when the event happened and wondered if the victim's family shared the same feelings.

The vehicle turned another corner and stopped suddenly outside a small, off-white bungalow that was surrounded by paramedics and police. Ashley, Sara and Nick were lead inside to where the shooting had taken place. The lounge was small, musty and a faint smell of cigarette smoke hung in the air.

Ashley froze in the doorway looking at a very familiar scene. Blood was splattered up the walls, the T.V was on and the victim lay dead just a few metres from the door. She was lying face down, in her pyjamas, with her limp limbs sprawled unnaturally in four directions.

The clear memories of Ashley's parent's murder flashed in her mind, the familiar smells and sounds filled her senses.

"Ashley… are you alright?" Sara placed a hand on Ashley's shoulder. She had tensed up and acted as if she wasn't going to take another step. Tears pricked in her eyes but she wiped them away with the back of her hand before they fell.

"Let's get to work," She said quietly stepping towards the victim's body and examining for evidence.

"Neighbours called the police," Brass informed Nick, "She said she heard gun fire but was too afraid to check it out. She's our only potential witness so far."

"That's better than nothing," Nick added joining Ashley by the body. She was busy collecting bullet fragments and dusting for prints.

"You seem to know what you're doing," Nick observed, "You ever seen anything like this before?"

"Once," Ashley replied placing an evidence marker next to the body, "My parents were killed in a similar way to this. It's weird; the scene just… reminds me of it…" a cold chill went down her spine as she tried blinking more tears away.

"Hey. If you feel like you can't work this case, because of personal reasons, that's fine," Nick looked worried, "Catherine can always put you on a different one."

"No! No… I'm fine." She gave him an over-the-top smile.

"Well alright then. If you're sure." He smiled, "And I'm sorry to hear about the parents."

Ashley acknowledged his last statement and continued with her work. Sorry wasn't going to bring her parents back, but everyone said it. She hated it. It made her feel so weak and pathetic! Her fists tightened and she gritted her teeth. It was hard to concentrate with all those thoughts buzzing around in her head.

"I need some air!" She signed making everyone else jump as she stood up.

"Well, me and Nick could finish up in here if you want to interview our witness outside?" Sara asked sympathetically.

"Sure," Ashley mumbled striding towards the door.

"You okay Ashley?" Brass confronted her outside the house.

"Yeah…" She lied, "Sara said I could interview the witness… I needed some air anyway, so…"

Brass nodded and lead Ashley towards a small, nervous looking woman. She was elderly, weak and her thin bony arms were shaking with shock.

"This is Veronica Higgins," Brass stated before turning and leaving Ashley to the interview.

"Hey. Mrs Higgins. My name's Ashley, I'm with the Vegas Crime Lab. Is it okay if I ask you a few questions about what you witnessed?"

The woman's face became contorted as she tried to remember the events of the past twelve hours.

Ashley could see she was struggling, "Do you remember any sounds? Something obvious that might help you remember."

"Well," Veronica's voice was dry and raspy and she had to take deep breaths before speaking, "I remember hearing a loud bang at about midnight. It startled me. I was too scared to look out of my window and see anything so I kept quiet."

"Did you not think to call the police there and then?" Ashley asked patriotically.

"Well, the noise could have been anything." Veronica sighed, " I did look out of my window about an hour later, when I was sure nothing could happen to me, and her television was still on so I though nothing bad could have happened. It was only when I knocked at the door this morning and no one answered when I thought maybe I should call."

"Do you know our victim's name?"

"No. She was young and hip. I didn't really want or have anything to do with her."

"Thank you Mrs Higgins. We'll be in touch if we need anymore information." Ashley nodded and joined Brass back inside of the building. "We have a potential time of the shooting, at around midnight. But other than that she's not much help. She doesn't even know our victims name."

"We'll keep her in our contacts just in case," Brass began. "A potential witness is better than nothing."

Ashley watched the experts search the room. Sara had already collected a bunch of blood samples and trace evidence; it was bagged and placed in Ashley's Evidence suitcase.

"You guys work fast!" Ashley was impressed.

"That's because there's nothing here to find. No footprints, no fingerprints, no… anything. All I've managed to find was blood on the doorframe and lead trace. This shooting is beginning to seem more complicated than what we had first though." Sara signed and blew a strand of hair out of her face. "You having much luck Nick?"

"Found an I.D!" He yelled pulling a drivers licence from a pink, sparkly purse, "Her name's Amanda Harris. She's 28 and from the looks of this business card she works as a waitress at Palace night club."

"Well. At least now we can talk to some people who'd know her."

"Hey, if she works at a night club then why wasn't she working last night?" Sara said joining the huddle.

"Could have been her day off?"

"Or she could have been fired?"

"It's Saturday night. You really think she would have had the day off?" Nick smirked looking around the room, "She's not even dressed up to go out anywhere. I think there's more to this shooting than what we see. I think we should go down to this Palace place and see what information we can get out of her co-workers."

Ashley and Sara nodded.

"But first we need to process this evidence. I'll give Robins a call and we'll see what this stuff is telling us before we go asking around." Nick flipped out his phone and dialled the lab while Ashley and Sara packed up their forensics kits and made their way back towards the vehicles.

"I'll hold the scene just in case we need to come back for something." Brass said as he began talking with some of the officers.

xxx

"Back already?" Greg greeted Ashley as she strolled into the DNA lab.

"Nice to see you too." Ashley smiled a placed blood samples onto the examining table.

"You want me to check those out for you?" Greg asked trying to be of some help to her.

"Hold your horses, lover boy!" Nick laughed as he joined the two at the table. He took one of the buds of blood and held it up. "Sara found this on the doorframe. We don't think it's our victims. It looks like Amanda opened the door to find a stranger stood there holding a gun. She slams the door on their leg causing it to be cut and blood is transferred to the bottom of the door."

"Seems legit," Ashley nodded.

"I also found traces of gun shot residue on the door which is consistent with the theory that the gun was fired from there." Nick gave Greg the bud he was holding and shooed him away, "Go see if you can get any results from CODIS."

Greg scowled and left muttering under his breath.

"And we can go down to the morgue and check on Robins with the body. See if his autopsy can shed any light on our investigation."

Ashley nodded and followed Nick down the not yet familiar route of corridors taking note of the surroundings so that someday she would be able to find her own way around the metallic maze of science.

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><p><em>Please review! Improvements make me happy :D<br>_


	4. Subjected to Violence

_We're here again, we're here! Hurrah!_

_Hey all you lovely people of the internet, I'm so so so so so so so so so so soooooooo extremely soooo sorry it's been WELL OVER a year since I last updated this... Well, last updated anything to be honest. I've been a complete lazy poo but I so wanted to update this because I had/have so much planned for it._

_Hope you enjoy this chapter. Please help me improve by giving me some feedback, it's always welcome :)_

_Enjoy!~_

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><p><span><strong>Chapter 4: Subjected to Violence<strong>

Dr Albert Robins. Specialist subject: autopsy.

Ashley walked shyly into the morgue to find an elderly man stood by Amanda's body wearing in a long, white lab coat. He had a neatly trimmed white beard and thinning white hair to match. He smiled at her sweetly and switched his walking stick to his other hand so he could shake Ashley's.

"I'm Dr Albert Robins, but you can just call me Al. You must be Ashley, am I correct?"

Ashley nodded and brushed her long fringe out of her face.

"I've heard from Nick that you've been settling in pretty well," Al looked impressed, "From looking at our victim here you could probably tell what caused her death."

"A single gun shot wound to the head," Ashley slipped on a pair of latex gloves and pointed to a small hole right in the centre of Amanda's forehead, "Must have had some skill to be able to shoot her there directly."

Al nodded, "The bullet stayed in her brain though. I have it here for you." He gave Nick a small container which held the remains of a tiny, bronze bullet.

"Looks like a 9 mil'," Nick observed, "We'll have Catherine check that back at the lab."

"Do you know her time of death?" Ashley asked.

"Around 12-14 hours ago," Al began, "And I can confirm that there was no alcohol or drugs in her system at the time of the murder."

"It's just as though they picked a random house to shoot at someone," Ashley began, thinking about possible theories, "What about if she was targeted? Or stalked? And the killer was waiting for the right moment to shoot her?"

"And now you're thinking logically!" Nick congratulated her, "Do you have her finger prints, Doc?"

"Do I ever let you down?" Robins chuckled and handed Nick a card with different sized black shapes printed on it.

"Thanks," Nick began, "Is there anything else you can tell us?"

"There is one other thing," Al pointed to Amanda's arms and face, "I found some bruises almost everywhere on her body. Could have been a struggle or perhaps a break up? Either way, she was subjected to violence in these past couple of days."

"She breaks up with her boyfriend… There's a reason to shoot her." Ashley looked at Nick, who nodded and began to leave. "Thanks Doc!"

"Anytime," Al smiled as he watched them both exit.

"Well, at least now we have some sort of structure to our theory," Nick began, "I think the best thing to do now is to wait for the results from Greg then go down and visit this 'Palace' place see if we can get some information from her co-workers."

"That sounds like a good idea," Ashley agreed as both the CSIs made their way back to the DNA lab.

Greg was working furiously, trying to find some sort of result from the DNA sample. His face was contorted as he ruffled his hair, annoyed at the fact that he had to draw a blank.

"Nothing." He said sharply as Nick and Ashley entered the room. "It's not even our victim's blood." Greg sighed.

"Well, at least it shows that there was someone else at the house at some point," Ashley reassured, "Besides, Nick thought it would be a good idea to go down to her work place and ask her colleagues if they saw her last night. It would give us a good indication of what could have happened."

Greg nodded in agreement as he placed the blood sample in a sealed bag to store with the rest of the evidence.

xxx

The afternoon breeze was warm and gentle against Ashley's face as Nick drove them both to the night club. Nick's large sunglasses emphasised the reflection of the road and Ashley seemed mesmerized by it.

After a few gentle turns of the car, they eventually pulled onto the curb outside Palace night club. The outside was dull and grey, much different to the night time when the place came alive with its pink neon sign and flashing doorframes.

"I'm sorry. We don't open for another few hours. Come back later." Snapped a young woman in an extremely skimpy leotard and high heels, right as Nick and Ashley and entered the building.

"Actually, we're from the Las Vegas Crime Lab." Nick said flashing his badge in her face.

"Whado you want?" The woman squeaked. She seemed annoyed yet slightly unnerved by their presence. She flicked her curly blonde hair out of her face and folded her arms in a sarcastic manner.

"Amanda Harris. I believe she worked here, yes?"

"Yeah. Whadabout her?"

"We're investigating her murder. We'd like to ask a few questions about her."

"Oh my God? She's dead?" The woman gasped clutching her face. "You're joking, right?"

"I'm afraid not, mam. Judging by your reaction, I'm assuming that you new Amanda well?" Nick asked.

"We all did. All us girls are like a family."

"May I get your name?"

"Jennifer Davidson." She began scratching her head and arms. It was obvious she hadn't taken the news well and Ashley could tell that she was a lot more unnerved than when they had first arrived.

"Thank you, Miss Davidson," Nick began taking out a small notepad and flicking to the next free page, "Did you see Amanda last night at all?"

"Yes," Jennifer replied with a tone of uneasiness.

"Was there anything unusual about her behaviour?"

"Not her behaviour no," She began to think, "But her face was covered in bruises and scratches, it has obvious they had been fighting again."

"Who's they?" Nick asked as he jotted in his notepad.

"Amanda and her boyfriend. They were always fighting and he was always hurting her in one way or another." Her voice was wavering, "She came to us in such a state last night that it wasn't possible for her to work at all. I sent her home to get some rest. If I'd have known then that she would have been killed a few hours later then I wouldn't have let her go." She began dabbing her eyes in an attempt to fight away the tears.

Nick copied all this information down on the notepad with a disgusted look on his face. He hated telling people the news about a loved one and he hated it when they cried. It was his job and it had to be done but that didn't help the fact that he was making others miserable.

"Do you know the name of her boyfriend?"

"Jackson Garner. Nasty piece of work."

"Thank you." Nick stated, "Is there any other information you can give us?"

"Not that I can think of right now. No." She was shaking too much to think anymore about the previous night.

"Here's our card. Call us if you think of anything else that might be important." Nick gave Jennifer a small piece of card. She took it out from between his fingers and clutched it firmly in both hands. She nodded at them both abruptly and with that they headed for the door.

"How do you cope with breaking the news to people?" Ashley asked timidly as she messed with her hair.

"You get used to if after a while." Nick replied quickly as they drove back to the lab through the afternoon sunset.

Ashley turned away and gazed at the sky. She watched the orange orb fall below the dark horizon of the desert that surrounded the city. She was a little hurt by Jennifer's reaction to the news but completely sympathised with her. She couldn't bear the thought of the times when she'd have to tell people about their loved ones. She flicked her hair out of her face as they turned the final corner.

But like Nick said, you get used to it after a while.

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><p><em>Thank you for reading!<br>_

_Please review and comment and tell me how to improve. It's lovely to hear your comments and great to see that you're actually reading this, haha._

_Lots of loveeeee_


	5. IMPORTANT NEWS PLEASE READ

**IMPORTANT NEWS ABOUT A DECADE AND A HALF.**

Hello guys, as you can probably tell from the title I have some important news about my story.

First of all, I'm sorry that this isn't a proper chapter but I needed a way to tell my lovely fans of this story some news about it and this seemed the best option.

I am going to be re-writing this story as I started it a very long time ago and my writing was terrible back then and I have no motivation for it right now. I want to carry on with this story as I love CSI and I really like Ashley, she's on of my favourite OCs, but I just haven't been able to as I haven't been feeling enough motivation for it and I don't like how the storyline is going. I'm going to have a look at Ashley's character and tweek her a bit and make her a bit better as I want her to be interesting, realistic and a fun character for you guys to get to grips with and that's not how I managed to convey her as when I first started writing, this was due to my lack of writing experience and the fact that I wasn't at a mature enough age where I could take her character seriously. I wanted her to ber really off the wall but now I realise that there's much more to her and the whole story than that.

I'm sorry if this has come as a shock to you all but this does not mean that I am abandoning the story, a new and imporved version will take its place in a few weeks time so you'll have to keep checking my page for that one. The name may change too but I'm not 100% sure if I want to do that yet. I'm off on holiday on Sunday too so that's a great opportunity to get my teeth into a bit of writing and hopefully create a good story that I'm happy to share with you guys.

Of course, if you have any questions, suggestions or would just like to learn a little more than feel free to PM me and I'll try and get back to you as soon as I can.

I really appreciate your support and patience with this and hopefully I will upload the new story soon.

Thank you!

Holly Lees


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